CASINO RUEDA COMPETITION AND WORKSHOPS IN VANCOUVER, CANADA

The Casino de Rueda Competition in Vancouver, Canada was a terrific event. Held annually in April as spring approaches, it is a beautiful environment for a dance event. I was cordially picked up from the airport and given a ride to the hotel. From my car window I was treated to gorgeous Vancouver scenery, and the promise of a great time.

What I found both at this Competition and the Rueda Congress in Miami (November, 2004), was that Rueda de Casino events have a flavor distinctly their own and quite different from Salsa Congresses. The difference flows from the fact that Salsa is done by couples and Rueda de Casino is done by groups. Everyone who learns Rueda de Casino has worked with a group, and been trained by one of a pretty finite set of Rueda teachers. So Casino Rueda events are like meetings of people who belong to chapters of some common club. They really involve the blending of groups, not individuals, into circles of dancers who are "working together."

It's nice to get to know members of other groups. At the Vancouver Competition, I ate and hung out with a lot of people from Seattle and San Francisco, as well as other cities in Canada. And it is great fun to watch how other groups do everything from the moves to calls, and to see which moves they blend with which others, etc. I find I always learn a lot at these things, regardless of what my official role is.

At this event, I was to judge and teach in a "Mega-Class." I had prepared two moves to teach to the group. Both of my choices (Thalia and Enroque) had components that were a little unusual and I figured would be interesting to others. (In Enroque, you do a maneuver also found in Registrala where the guy turns the lady one way and then moves his hold from her shoulder to her wrist and unwinds her. In Thalia, there are fast turns that switch direction which are flashy. Then there is something like an optical illusion at the end.) It's always fun to teach able and experienced dancers, so the workshop was a real joy.

I loved many of the moves that others taught as well. We had a hilarious experience----one teacher taught Ocho and then another teacher taught a somewhat different move that had the same name. After that, when Russ Hamer started to teach, he began by saying, "I'm going to teach you a new move called Ocho." Everyone roared. But instead he taught some cool steps, one of which was called Niagara. It was very pretty and had lots of turns. Many other nice moves were taught as well and all the teachers did a really great job. (I would love to list the teachers by name, but there were many and I don't know all the names, unfortunately.)

Those moves that weren't too intricate were of course easier to remember. Here are descriptions of a few that I specifically recall: We learned Complicado, a step that involves 5 consecutive enchufla turns, with the second one not having the arms go overhead. Each turn was done in 4 beats, so this step began with 20 beats of turns-----very pretty! The Dame-Vacila-Dame move is just like its name, but there is a nice left turn for the guy as he moves into his second dame. One of the instructors taught a move called Enchufla with kick. Leaders stomp on beat 7 and kick on beat 1. (When I taught that move to my group in the D.C. area, one lady complained, "Don't the women get to kick!?") A move called Ocho was taught where the leads weave in a figure 8 around the ladies to their right. I've done this before, but not out of guapea. The instructors who came later called some of the moves that had just been taught which was fun; so they built on what was done before them.

The two evening events were exciting and quite different from each other. On Saturday, Maggie Carles, a very famous Cuban singer, performed. That is, on the face of it, she sang. But I'd say that she danced, as well. She moved to the music just like a dancer, with grace, feeling, and sabor. In fact, people were dancing in the aisles almost from the beginning of her presentation. But her performance also inspired a number of people to jump on stage and dance with her there as well!! In addition to having a mellow sound when it was meant to be soft and a rousing, powerful sound when she wanted it to be dramatic, she was also quite a show-person, connecting warmly and continuously with the audience.

On Sunday night of course, we had the competition. There were three judges, myself, Russ Hamer from California, and Francisco from Cuba/Canada . We sat up on a stage for good visibility. All of the entries showed a lot of effort, work, and skill and all participants are to be commended. They all had wonderful dancers and did very nice moves. The two top teams, ironically, were both from Vancouver and their scores were very close. They did fabulous, fast moving and highly original choreographies! But ultimately what struck me more than the dance skill was the great originality of how the moves were put together.

I have been reading that the current wave of Rueda dancers in Cuba are increasingly using Rueda de Casino as a performance dance, putting together long strings of movement in what are essentially mini-choreographies. This couldn't have been better illustrated than it was in the competition entries that night. In some cases moves were done alternately by half the couples; subgroups of 3 were formed that danced together with an odd person or two doing something else; tunnels that dancers went through were created, etc etc. Many original moves, combinations, and formations ran through the presentations. I look forward to getting a video from the event to show my students and friends back home!!

Congratulations to all the participating teams. They are listed below.

First place: Los Cumbancheros, Canada
Second place: Grupo America, Canada
Third place: TropiCuba, United States
Fourth Place: Las Salseritas, United States

And thanks to everyone else who put their time and effort into making this event a great experience! A special pat on the back goes to Debbie and Ramses for all their hard work in producing and coordinating this event!

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If you want to learn more about this annual Competition, please visit: DanceRueda.com. Questions on registering for it or other matters can be directed to: ruedacompetition@shaw.ca.

This article was written by Barb Bernstein (DanceInTime.com) who judged and taught at the event. She teaches Casino Rueda in the Washington D.C. area including classes in Northern Virginia and Maryland. These classes are very welcoming to newcomers, so feel free to check them out, or just contact Barb to ask for guidance on where to dance, if you happen to visit the Nation's Capital.